
Class. 
Book.. 






Copyright^ . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




SHORTEN 
THE LINE 

BY REV. ARTHUR MADISON SHAW 

A Member of the Louisiana Conference 
Methodist Episcopal Churchy South 




~~*^ 



Nashville, Tenn. 

Dallas, Tex. ; Richmond, Va, 

Publishing House M. E. Church, South 

Lamar & Barton, Agents 

192a 







COPYRIGHT, I9»2 

BY 
LAMAR & BARTON 



NOV 25 IS22 



CH692028 



TO THB 

Reverend John E. Godbey, D.D. 

OF KIRKWOOD, MISSOURI 

whose Godly life has been a benediction 
and inspiration to me; whose intellect- 
ual fearlessness and clear insight into 
the profoundest questions of philosophy 
and theology, combined with a stead- 
fast faith in the fundamentals of Chris- 
tianity and in Christ their author, have 
helped me to think through my prob- 
lems without losing any of the sweet- 
ness of a simple Christian faith; and 
whose words of friendly counsel and can- 
did commendation have encouraged me 
in my labors more than I can tell, this 
book is affectionately dedicated, with the 
prayer that my life may possess some of 
the strength, poise, and gentleness of his. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Foreword. 



Page. 
. 7 



Chapter I. 
Save Your Ammunition • ** 

Chapter II. 
Purely Speculative Questions 23 

Chapter III. 
Sectarian Peculiarities 3* 

Chapter IV. 
Historical Questions 42 

Chapter V. 
Doctrinal Questions 49 

Chapter VI. 
The Case of Science 5 ' 

Chapter VII. 
The Shortened Line 6S 

Chapter VIII. 
Prayer the Key and Test ' 3 



6 Contents. 

Chapter IX. page. 

The Modern Prophet 81 

Chapter X. 
The Church of To-Morrow 94 

Chapter XL 
Epilogue 103 



FOREWORD. 

THE city of Stockton, California, receives 
its supply of electricity from a great 
water-power plant in the mountains, more 
than a hundred miles away. Between nine 
and ten o'clock one night, several years ago, 
the current suddenly stopped, leaving the 
city without electricity. Streets, business 
houses, homes, parks, and theaters were left 
in darkness, save for a few lanterns, oil 
lamps, and candles, which were brought out 
in the sudden emergency. Every electric 
motor stopped, and all electrically driven 
machinery stood still. Traffic was arrested, 
and all the activities of the inhabitants were 
thrown into confusion. 

Yet, strange to say, telephone communi- 
cation with the power house brought assur- 
ance that nothing was wrong there ; and, so 
far as was known, the lines were in perfect 
condition. Men were sent out along the 
line to see if they could not locate the trou- 
ble; but no cause could be found, and the 

(7) 



8 Shorten the Line. 

city remained in darkness throughout the 
night. Next morning two linemen went out 
to make a daylight inspection; and only a 
short distance from the city they discovered 
what had occasioned all the anxiety and 
inconvenience of the long dark night. An 
enormous black house cat had climbed up 
one of the poles which supported the high- 
voltage wires, and had been electrocuted 
and fallen across the wires, establishing a 
"short-circuit" and completely cutting the 
connection between the power plant and the 
city. 

The charred body, which, singularly 
enough, had remained a " conductor" capa- 
ble of carrying so great a voltage, was re- 
moved from the wires, the connection re- 
established, and no permanent harm done 
except to the little animal, which no longer 
had any value whatever — as a cat. 

May not the most plausible critical theory, 
or even the most harmless orthodox opinion, 
occasion much the same trouble in the 
spiritual world? All the real light and power 






Foreword. 

of the spiritual life come from the heart of 
God, the power house of the universe. Vital 
faith and living prayer keep the soul in 
touch with the Infinite : and so long as spir- 
itual power moves uninterrupted along 
these wires from the throne of God to the 
human soul, men have light to see and know, 
and power to do, and all life thrills and throbs 
with the divine. The city that is set on a 
hill " cannot be hid," because it is aflame 
with light and pulsating with power. Heart 
and brain and hand and voice, illuminated 
and propelled by a power unseen, are full of 
light and peace and service and joy. 

Scientific theories, speculative notions, 
critical opinions, philosophical cogitations, 
and sharply defined theological beliefs may 
enter into Christian thinking and perform a 
legitimate service. They may be studied, 
analyzed, played with, or reverently be- 
lieved, and do no harm. Rightly evaluated, 
they may do much good in helping us to 
clear thinking about matters of faith and 
duty. But men should beware how these 



10 Shorten the Line. 

are allowed to modify heart-experience or 
interfere with the soul's direct communion 
with God. 

A cat is a harmless animal in itself, a 
pretty creature and an attractive pet, and 
may be very useful in ridding the premises 
of predatory rodents. But, fallen across the 
wires, it can throw a city into darkness, stop 
all the wheels of traffic, and occasion much 
confusion and inconvenience among a per- 
plexed population. So our creeds, theories, 
speculations, and theologies, so long as we 
know their limitations and appraise them at 
their worth, are at least harmless, and may 
be interesting, instructive, entertaining, and 
inspiring. But when they bulk as funda- 
mentals we begin to worship them — and 
cease to "worship the Father in spirit and 
in truth." Even a hobby is harmless if kept 
in the house; but, fallen across the wires, it 
leaves us dark and powerless and plunged 
in confusion ; for it has interrupted the flow 
of the currents of grace, truth, and inspira- 
tion from the dynamo of Heaven. 



Foreword. 1 1 

To sum up, under a changed figure: 
Happy is the man who, like the doughty 
Bishop John J. Tigert, can sink a shaft into 
the profoundest depths of science and phi- 
losophy, and, while digging for the precious 
ore of truth in the deepest strata of thought 
or theory, can keep the way open to the 
skies, breathe the air of the upper world, and 
see the sun at noon ! 

The following pages are little more than 
an elaboration and application of the para- 
ble of The Cat on the Wires. 



SHORTEN THE LINE. 



CHAPTER I. 
Save Your Ammunition. 

THE social unrest of to-day is not more 
widespread and acute than is the in- 
tellectual unrest. Just as old economic and 
political systems are being investigated, 
challenged, attacked, and defended; so in 
the world of thought, the tenets of science, 
philosophy, and religion, which had seemed 
to be generally accepted, are being assailed 
and defended with an uncompromising vigor 
which is almost without precedent. While 
gross materialism and subtle atheism are 
assailing all doctrines that relate to the 
spiritual life, many less radical "moderns" 
are attacking this or that detail of Christian 
creed or orthodox theology. On the other 
hand, while many Christian teachers are de- 
fending and advocating only what seems 
basic in the Christian faith, many more are 

(13) 



14 Shorten the Line. 

planting their guns along the entire line of 
traditional orthodoxy, and attempting to 
defend and carry forward the whole theo- 
logical fabric that was woven by the hearts, 
heads, and hands of ages that are dead. 

The main contention of this essay may 
be stated at once : It is that we are making 
our battle line too long; we are attempting 
to defend too much. Reactionary preju- 
dices, and arbitrary interpretations and ap- 
plications of religious theories, may lose us 
the great opportunity of an age that, with 
all its radicalism and skepticism, is intel- 
lectually and spiritually plastic. 

Let us understand, once for all, that 
"progressive" and "conservative," "ortho- 
dox" and "liberal," in religion, are relative 
terms. The conservatives of to-day stand 
about where the liberals stood in Wesley's 
day. The conservatives of Wesley's day 
were even more liberal than the liberals of 
those times when Galileo was persecuted for 
discovering great truths in nature, or when 
John Huss suffered a cruel death for having 



Save Your Ammunition. 15 

carried forward Wycliffe's work of laying 
the foundations of the Reformation. 

Much has been lost in the past by a 
stubborn conservatism and hard-and-fast 
literalism among orthodox Christians. 
France might have been saved from atheism 
by a faith that was forward-looking and 
intellectually hospitable. A creed-bound 
faith cannot keep pace with an advancing 
world, nor cope with an unbelief that is 
intellectually alert and free. No thoughtful 
man can read dispassionately the writings 
of the deist, Thomas Paine, without feeling 
that if he had been environed by a Chris- 
tianity that was evangelical in faith and life, 
and progressive in thought, we should proba- 
bly never have heard of Paine, the infidel. 
And if the armor of the Church had been of 
few pieces, and they of tested and tempered 
steel, the harlequin swords of such as Vol- 
taire, Hume, Nietzsche, and Ingersoll would 
have left no marks upon it. 

In faith, as in international politics, there 
is weakness and danger in a long, exposed 



16 Shorten the Line. 

frontier. As often happens in war, there is 
much to be gained by straightening and 
shortening the line of offense and defense. 
Attention needs to be diverted from things 
not vital; and saving truth needs to be 
grasped with a firmness, defined with a 
clearness, practiced with a whole-hearted- 
ness, and urged upon others with an ear- 
nestness and zeal not known since Paul 
" determined not to know anything among" 
the Gentiles "save Jesus Christ and him 
crucified. " 

It is time to save ammunition and con- 
serve resources. Let Christian teachers look 
well to the ends of faith, to the primary ob- 
jectives of the Christian evangel. These 
are four: 

1. Personal Salvation. — "What must I do 
to be saved ?" is a living question in every 
age. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, ,, is 
still, and evermore will be, the answer. If 
theories of the fall of man, unconditional 
election, effectual calling, hypostatic union, 
atonement by substitution, purgatory and 



Save Your Ammunition. 17 

absolution, modes and administrators of 
rites and sacraments, have any essential part 
in this divine work, let them, with all possi- 
ble fervor, be insisted upon. But if they 
have little or nothing to do with personal 
salvation, let them have only such place in 
our faith and teaching as they deserve. 
Meantime, let us "come unto the Father" 
by Him who is "the Way, the Truth, and 
the Life." Let us "deny ourselves, and take 
up our cross, and follow him." The case is 
urgent. The starving soul wants the " Bread 
of Life," not the chaff and husks and straw 
and tares that came with the wheat. Only 
that which will bring us to the "Good 
Shepherd" is of interest to the "lost sheep" 
and the hungry lamb. 

2. The Building of Character. — We are not 
merely to come to the Saviour: we must 
"follow on to know the Lord." We are 
commanded to "grow in the grace and 
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ"; we are exhorted to "go on unto 
perfection." The way is not mysterious, 
2 



18 Shorten the Line. 

nor the process complicated. A full sur- 
render to God, an abiding and increasing 
trust in his infinite power and loving- 
kindness; the daily study of the Scriptures; 
fellowship with God's people; constant work 
in the Master's cause; love to God and our 
fellow men; a life kept in vital touch with 
God by the ministrations of the Church and 
by prayer — these will bring the Christian 
character to a glorious maturity. And they 
are within the reach of the lowliest. 

Every institution, department, and ac- 
tivity of the Church should be dedicated to, 
and directed toward, this work of character- 
building. Above all, the gospel preached 
should ever be directed toward this great 
objective — an objective to which Jesus de- 
voted so much of the time and strength of 
his earthly ministry. 

3. The Evangelization of the World. — The 
whole of the gospel dispensation may be 
summarized in two words — "Come" and 
"Go." "Come, and be saved; go, and save 
others." "Ye shall be witnesses unto me" 



Save Your Ammunition. 19 

— first, to the "next man," and ultimately, 
to the uttermost parts of the earth. The 
consuming passion of the consecrated heart 
is the passion for saving the lost. The first 
impulse of the new-born soul, and the last 
lingering wish of the dying saint, is to tell 
the "good news' ' to others. This is the sum 
of the Great Commission; this the glory of 
the Christian's warfare ! 

The kit-bag and armament of the soldier 
of Jesus Christ should contain all the equip- 
ment that can be used toward this result. 
But superfluous uniform, useless weapons, 
and nonessential luggage will only retard 
the march and encumber the soldier in 
battle. Let his armor be such faith as will 
defend the vital parts; and his weapons, 
such truths as have been tested and proven 
fit to make real spiritual conquests. 

4. The Establishment of the Kingdom of 
God is the fourth and final great objective. 
It embraces all the others; but it also in- 
cludes more. It takes in the whole cosmic 
sweep of God's redemptive plan and work. 



20 Shorten the Line. 

Not merely the hearts, but also the institu- 
tions, of men are to be brought under the 
dominion of that kingdom which "is right- 
eousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
Spirit. M 

Bishop Candler has said, "Such a king- 
dom as that which we have been considering 
cannot be promoted by the forces employed 
to establish and sustain the kingdoms of 
this world. The kingdom of heaven cannot 
be promoted by the powers of earth/' The 
good Bishop does not mean all that this 
would seem to imply. He is an ardent 
prohibitionist, and an advocate of whole- 
some laws and good citizenship. And the 
suppression of the liquor traffic, commer- 
cialized vice, white slavery, child labor, op- 
pression, pauperism, ignorance, and disease 
— all come within the scope of the work of 
the kingdom of God. To heal the sick, help 
the poor to higher standards of living, edu- 
cate the illiterate, and train the disad- 
vantaged in good citizenship are activities 
that do promote the kingdom of God. Yet 



Save Your Ammunition. 21 

laws and taxes and state institutions, and 
even police officers and armies — the very 
forces "employed to establish and sustain 
the kingdoms of this world' ! — are helping to 
promote these movements, which are fur- 
thering the objectives of the kingdom of 
God. And may not these " powers of 
earth' ' be won for God and dedicated to 
the cause of righteousness — thus becoming 
conscious agents of the divine kingdom? 

Our commission is to "make disciples," 
not only of individuals, but of "all nations." 
Christ is to "rule over the nations," and 
"the kingdom of the world" is to "become 
the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ." 
"The earth shall be full of the knowledge of 
Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea." In 
plain words, the law of love embodied in the 
two "great commandments" is to become 
the law of men ; governing not only the per- 
sonal spiritual life, but also the affairs of 
commerce, industry, politics, all civic insti- 
tutions, and international relations. The 
spirit and ethics of the "Man of Galilee" 



22 Shorten the Line. 

are destined to rule the world of men and 
things. 

Of this the enlightened Christian thinks 
when he prays, "Thy kingdom come." 
Toward this the energies of the Church — 
which is the fighting force of the divine 
kingdom — are to be directed. Whatever of 
doctrine, polity, creed, or ceremony will 
help to further this consummation, is to be 
warmly embraced, stoutly defended, and 
aggressively used. 

But alas! how much time, thought, and 
energy — and therefore, how many precious 
opportunities — are wasted in defending 
things and theories which have nothing to 
do with personal salvation, the building of 
character, effective evangelism, or further- 
ing the kingdom of God ! While we, like the 
warrior of old, are "busy here and there," 
the precious charge which God has com- 
mitted to us is "gone"! 



CHAPTER II. 
Purely Speculative Questions. 

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES has 
somewhere remarked in substance that 
one of the best evidences of the divinity 
of Christianity is the fact that it has survived 
the men who have preached it; by which he 
evidently means that it has survived in 
spite of the kind of representatives it has 
often had. We are forcibly reminded of this 
when we think of the time, effort, and zeal 
which well-meaning men have expended 
upon purely speculative questions which 
cannot be answered. As if questions of real 
moment and of practical concern to man did 
not present sufficient difficulties to tax the 
brain and heart of the wisest and best, men 
range far afield and seek to pry into the 
unknowable, in search of worlds to conquer. 
How and why did sin enter the universe? 
How can God forgive a sinner? How did 
Christ's death atone for sin? How were the 
divine and human united in Jesus? Did he 

(23) 



24 Shorten the Line. 

possess both a divine and a human will? 
What is the state of the soul while the body 
is in the grave? How will we be raised from 
the dead? Where will we go? What is 
heaven? What is hell? Will the devil and 
the damned consciously exist eternally? 
What will become of those who have never 
heard of Christ, but have followed as best 
they could such light as they have had? 
Will Jesus come again in the flesh? How 
will he come? When will he come? How 
will he reign when he comes? This long list 
of questions is but a small sample of the 
endless catalogue of insoluble problems at 
which the minds of men have toiled. Days 
of argument and volumes of writing have 
been wasted, and often worse than wasted, 
upon such unanswerable questions. There- 
by has been generated a great deal of heat, 
but very little light! 

Jesus never encouraged, nor once at- 
tempted to answer, any such questions. 
"Are there few that be saved?" some of his 
disciples once asked him. Many have ven- 



Purely Speculative Questions. 25 

tured to answer this; but Jesus did not. He 
ignored it. But he did utter a solemn cau- 
tion to them, to look well to their own 
lives. 

It is doubtless well for all men to meditate 
upon such questions occasionally. One may 
be able to reach conclusions satisfactory to 
himself. He may well seek to know the 
opinions of other thoughtful men ; and may 
express his own ideas and convictions when 
he thinks they may be helpful to some one 
else. But when he begins to dogmatize 
about such matters, he is seeking to use his 
wings where the air is too thin to sustain 
them. Nothing conclusive on such ques- 
tions can be established by a fair interpre- 
tation of the Scriptures. And no profit 
would accrue to the souls of men if all such 
questions were answered. 

The process by which men have fallen 
into these speculative errors and vain j an- 
glings is very simple. They have made to 
themselves definitions; and assuming the 
absolute truth — and sometimes even the ab- 



26 Shorten the Line. 

solute exhaustiveness — of these definitions, 
they have proceeded by deductive logic to 
spin out interminable conclusions, which 
must inevitably follow if the premises be 
sound. 

For example, assuming the truth of the 
doctrine of " total depravity/' what a train 
of conclusions follows! It follows, (1) that 
babies are born full of sin ; (2) that all men 
naturally deserve to be damned; (3) that 
man is incapable of any kind of good, even 
a good purpose or volition ; (4) that, so soon 
as he reaches the years of personal accounta- 
bility, he will inevitably become an active, 
responsible sinner; (5) in which state God 
may justly leave him to be lost, although 
there never has been the least possibility of 
his being saved; (6) and, at the same time, 
God may righteously elect to salvation a 
choice few. With such a premise, certain 
other conclusions, which some have held, 
are not illogical: (1) the damnation of in- 
fants; (2) the persistence of the "Adamic 
nature" in regenerated persons; (3) the 



Purely Speculative Questions. 27 

necessity of a second work of grace to eradi- 
cate this residue of sin ; (4) the unconditional 
"preservation" of the saints— whether they 
"persevere" or not! When the arbitrary 
definition of "total depravity" — with its 
logical implications— -is removed, these doc- 
trines rest upon most unsteady foundations; 
for they have no support in the Glad Ti- 
dings of the New Testament. 

It is not too much to say that, had not 
men become more enamored of arbitrary 
definitions and logical deductions than of 
the Mind of the Master, very little of what 
is known as Calvinism would ever have 
found its way into Christian Theology. 

The teachings of the Bible concerning 
Satan and the future state of the wicked 
are Oriental, poetic, and highly figurative. 
Grounded in truth, they warn us, in the most 
solemn manner, of the awful outcome of a 
life of sin. Yet, to many minds, the notion 
of hell is as gross and materialistic as the 
Mohammedan idea of heaven. In fact, the 
popular conceptions of hell and the devil 



28 Shorten the Line. 

seem to have been drawn from the writings 
of Dante and Milton, rather than from the 
Scriptures. The doctrine of purgatory has 
not the slightest warrant in the Word of 
God, but is wholly speculative. 

In like manner, literalistic and specula- 
tive interpretations of prophecy have led to 
the most irrational theories of soul-sleeping, 
second adventism, the return of the Jews 
to the Holy Land, the millennium, Arma- 
geddon, the day of judgment, and the future 
state. Just at the present time, there is 
a widespread revival of premillenarianism. 
It is very probable that, but for a single 
brief figurative passage in the book of 
Revelation, this doctrine never would have 
been promulgated. Yet its advocates warp 
a great many passages of Scripture to fit 
their theory, and seem to support their doc- 
trine. They even press into service the 
long-fulfilled predictions of the ancient 
prophets; and by a juggling with numbers 
that ought to shame a schoolboy, attempt 
to determine "the times and seasons which 



Purely Speculative Questions. 29 

the Father hath set within his own authori- 
ty. " For instance, seizing upon the declara- 
tion that with God "a day is as a thousand 
years, and a thousand years as one day," 
wherever it will serve their purpose they 
take a day mentioned in prophecy, and make 
it represent exactly a thousand years! To 
carry this out consistently would destroy 
their theory altogether — for the millennial 
reign of Christ would be only for "one 
day"! 

These and a thousand other sphinx- 
riddles, whose solutions lie behind "the 
veil," have a certain speculative interest for 
devout and meditative minds. And there 
is a not illegitimate or unwholesome fascina- 
tion in giving wings to the imagination, and 
drawing mental images of what eye hath 
not seen nor ear heard; "which things the 
angels desire to look into," but which the 
wisdom of earth's greatest seers has not 
penetrated. At the same time, the Gospel 
but vaguely touches upon these themes — or 
not at all. Things essential and fundamental 



30 Shorten the Line. 

arc very plain. God "hath revealed them 

unto babes/' But beyond what \§ revealed 

i , an infinite realm of mystery only dimly 

hinted at on the brink of which the moti 
we can do li to think, and wonder, and 
adore I 



CHAPTER III. 
Sectarian Peculiarities. 

ABOUT all the exclusiveness and bigotry 
that have cursed religious faith and 
teaching have grown out of false notions 
concerning authority in religion. There is, 
in fact, but one source of authority, and that 
is God. And by the very constitution of 
human nature, and by every revelation 
which he has made of himself, God has made 
it plain that there is but one legitimate 
channel for the application of authority. 
Originating with God, it is by way of the 
intellect, through the conscience, to the will. 
A man must, for himself, know the moral 
demand, feel the urge, and willingly sur- 
render to the authority in religion, in order 
to avail himself of its divine benefits. 

Man is by nature u incurably religious." 
His very being, in itself incomprehensible — 
full of aspiration, hope, wonder, and in- 
satiable yearning — amidst a universe of 
unfathomable mystery, thrusts the question 

(31) 



32 Shorten the Line. 

and appeal of religion irresistibly upon him; 
and a thousand circumstances incident to 
his life intensify its demands upon his soul. 
This would have been true, had no super- 
natural religion been given : indeed, it is and 
has been true, where the supernatural has 
not been made known. Standing thus, 
man's life is a maze of problems transcend- 
ing all the powers, and baffling all the ef- 
forts, of human reason. A true, spiritual, 
God-given religion is inestimably precious, 
therefore, because it solves the problems of 
the soul. When it is perfect, and perfectly 
appropriated, it leaves no vital problem to 
harass mind or conscience. " Perfect love 
casteth out fear." 

God freely gives this solution to all who 
will receive it ; but he arbitrarily compels no 
man to receive it. Christ lovingly offers it to 
every man ; but does not coerce the heart of 
any. And he has authorized and com- 
missioned us to tell the good news to all; 
nay, he creates that within every genuine 
disciple which constrains him to do so: but 



Sectarian Peculiarities. 33 

he has not authorized any, individually or 
collectively, to use compulsion — physical or 
moral, legal or ecclesiastical. Moreover, 
most men will resent your authority or 
mine; but every reasonable man will wel- 
come a sincere effort to help him solve his 
problems. 

Now, when the Reformation and the 
printing press gave the open Bible to men, 
it was recognized as embodying that divine 
message which emanated from the ultimate 
Source of Authority. Very naturally then, 
the Book itself was accepted as the authority 
in spiritual matters. But this authority did 
not mean exactly the same to all men. Dif- 
ferent readers understood it differently. 
Men's minds, temperaments, and experi- 
ences varied widely. So it was found that 
the same interpretation of the Scriptures did 
not solve the problems of all men. Had it 
been possible then for Protestants to segre- 
gate the fundamentals — the truths that are 
verily "the power of God unto salvation" — 
and, leaving all else to each man's individual 
3 



34 Shorten the Line. 

judgment, offer these vital truths to a be- 
nighted and oppressed humanity, as the 
God-given solution of all its problems, a 
united Protestantism might have been vic- 
torious over the entire earth. 

But man was not fitted, either by consti- 
tution or training, for such catholicity. Very 
naturally there was little discrimination be- 
tween the essential and nonessential; mere 
opinions became burning convictions; au- 
thority became so loud-voiced that compas- 
sion and sympathy and helpfulness could 
not be heard. To deny a creed was to insult 
God and flout the authority of his Word. 
To discount a form or ceremony was to re- 
sist the Holy Spirit ; to entertain an honest 
doubt was to prove oneself a child of the 
devil. People thus passionately attached to 
widely divergent opinions could not dwell 
and work together. Hence there were divi- 
sions upon divisions. The multiplying of 
sects was inevitable. 

• While men are wont to deplore these 
divisions, there is another side to the matter. 



Sectarian Peculiarities. 



35 



Undoubtedly schism and faction have run 
to ridiculous excess. One sect differs from 
another only in singing psalms instead of 
hymns — which psalms are, after all, mere 
loose paraphrases from the Hebrew Psalter; 
another rallies around the Jewish Sabbath; 
another around a mode of baptism; and still 
others around forms of government, theories 
of holiness, or styles of wearing apparel! 
Yet, the larger and more reasonable divisions 
may actually do more good, divided as they 
are, than would have been possible other- 
wise. Man being constituted as he is, a 
form of religion that appeals to one may 
wholly fail to reach another. Christianity 
so expressed as utterly to fail to meet the 
needs of some, may be just what others re- 
quire. God reveals himself under many 
symbols, and the Saviour called himself by 
many names, that the divine character, ap- 
pearing under such diversity of representa- 
tion, might appeal to every type of mind. 

So, one form of ecclesiastic organization, 
of doctrinal statement, or of ritual cere- 



36 Shorten the Line. 

mony, may seem to solve the spiritual prob- 
lems of one company of earnest people; 
while those of other companies, equally intel- 
ligent and sincere, may require the same 
spiritual ministries expressed under different 
forms. 

The sin of sectarianism does not lie in 
difference of opinion, nor in separateness of 
organization; but in magnifying differences 
and overemphasizing the nonessential — 
sometimes even to the extent of despising 
and seeking to injure one another. If there 
are to be different denominations, they must 
often meet ; and their interests will frequent- 
ly conflict. Each will be zealous to win the 
community, and each may become jealous 
of the other's success. Each will naturally 
desire to prove its superiority, and thus win 
the larger following. Just here a large place 
is likely to be given to nonessential tenets. 
Too often the real saving truths of religion 
are but little emphasized, while sectarian 
hobbies are exploited to the limit. One de- 
nomination, touching but lightly "the 



Sectarian Peculiarities. 37 

weightier matters of the law, justice, and 
mercy, and faith," will ring the changes on 
its ecclesiastical priority, its historical con- 
tinuity and apostolic succession, its ordi- 
nances transmitted in unbroken line from 
the apostolate. Another insists that it has 
a divinely constituted form of organization, 
an ecclesiasticism made after the New 
Testament pattern. Another stresses the 
sacredness of certain times or places; another 
expatiates on the efficacy and potency of 
the sacraments. Even particular modes of 
administering rites and ceremonies are in- 
sisted upon, as if God had expressed infinite 
concern as to the manner of the physical 
handling of a symbol! 

We have indicated that the mere holding 
of these different theories and forms does no 
harm. Nonessential doctrines and prac- 
tices even have a value— it may be a very 
great value—for the individual. For in- 
stance, there are several modes of baptism. 
If I am to be baptized at all, I must be bap- 
tized by one or another of these modes. 



38 Shorten the Line. 

The salvation of my soul, the genuineness of 
my Christian character, or the validity of 
my Church membership, does not depend 
on which one. But the sprinkling of clean 
water seems to me to be the most scriptural, 
dignified, and decent, and the most uni- 
versally practicable mode. It is less spec- 
tacular and materialistic than immersion; 
seems less likely to lead to the formalism 
that so closely resembles idolatry; and it 
surely better symbolizes the "pouring out" 
of the Holy Spirit upon the believer's heart. 
The mere mode, therefore, has a value to me. 
It may have an equal value to all who are 
associated with me in the Church to which I 
belong. Therefore, the Church will feel in 
duty bound to teach it to itfe constituency. 
This can be most effectually done through 
literature, and the personal ministrations of 
pastors and teachers. Only when there is 
real occasion for its vindication before the 
public will it be wise to make it the subject 
of pulpit discourse. It is, like scores of other 
minor tenets, a nonessential ; and those who 



Sectarian Peculiarities. 39 

publicly and frequently harp on nonessen- 
tials do harm in at least three ways: they 
warp the minds of their own people by hold- 
ing their attention to the merely superficial ; 
they rob their ministry of its effectiveness 
with Christians of other Churches; and they 
confuse the minds of men of the world, 
whose pressing need is the simple, vital 
gospel that saves from sin. 

However true a doctrine may be, it is not 
essential to salvation if people are actually 
being saved from sin without it. And no 
theory or practice, however good in itself, is 
of first importance, if it is not practically 
universal among evangelical Christians. 
The apostolic succession that really counts 
is succession to the apostolic spirit. The 
divinely constituted form of Church govern- 
ment is any form through which God works 
to the salvation of men. The sacred time is 
the time which God hallows with his pres- 
ence. The consecrated place is any place 
where his mercy falls upon his creatures. A 
cemetery consecrated by an archbishop is 



40 Shorten the Line. 

less holy than an orphanage where a mother- 
ly matron keeps, for bereaved little ones, a 
Christian home. A cathedral, at midnight, 
empty and unused, is even less divine than 
a stable in which a tired horse takes his ease. 
There is potency in any sacrament in which 
the soul, through faith, finds God — and in 
no other. Any rite, performed by any mode, 
has spiritual value when it helps to make re- 
demption real to us— and only then. 

At best, if some other evangelical Chris- 
tians hold views at variance with ours, ours 
may be wrong — and so may theirs! Or, it 
may happen that both are right. The most 
that can be claimed for these divisive theo- 
ries—and the utmost that we can ask for in 
many cases— is a fair degree of probability, 
based upon a preponderance of evidence. 
Worldly men desire no better excuse for 
their indiffierence than denominational 
bigotry. When people begin by thinking 
that all Churches are in error, except their 
own, they usually end by losing confidence 
in the one supposed exception. 



Sectarian Peculiarities, 41 

Meanwhile, the central message— salva- 
tion from sin through faith in the Son of 
God— calls for insistence. What folly! O 
men of God, what folly to throw away golden 
opportunities for witnessing for Jesus Christ, 
and spend precious time threshing over old 
straw, fighting about the husks, feeding the 
human spirit on chaff, " which satisfieth 
not," while the world is perishing for the 
Bread of Life ! That is the most truly apos- 
tolic Church which is doing most to save a 
lost world. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Historical Questions. 

THE Bible is not a scientifically con- 
structed canal of facts, designed for the 
irrigation of inquisitive brains; but a wide- 
spreading, free-flowing river of truth, di- 
vinely appointed to fertilize all the soil of 
human life. The story of the "Prodigal 
Son" was not intended to narrate the facts 
about the life of a wandering youth; but it 
was given to portray mighty truths affecting 
the destinies of wandering nations — and of 
every wandering soul in God's world. A 
good work of fiction may tell more truth 
about human society than the exact annals 
of any given community would contain. 
There is more truth in Hugo's "Les Misera- 
bles" than in Benjamine Constant's " Recol- 
lections of the Private Life of Napoleon"; 
more in Carlyle's brief " Sartor Resartus" 
than in his voluminous biography of u Fred- 
erick the Great." 
Just now, many conscientious brethren 

(42) 



Historical Questions. 43 

are disturbed by the fear that the historic 
accuracy of certain Scripture statements 
may be discounted in popular thought. But, 
whatever facts may be challenged, there is 
not the least danger that any God 1 s-truth of 
that old Book is going to suffer — save at the 
hands of its friends! One distressed watch- 
dog of orthodoxy, or credomaniac heresy- 
hound, can create more panic in the field of 
spiritual truth, than all the baying beagles 
of " Destructive Criticism. " To spend one's 
time guarding the fences while the crop goes 
to grass is bad husbandry! 

To begin at the beginning: the book of 
Genesis is essentially true. Where will one 
find truths more profound or incontestable 
than the following: God is the Author of 
creation, and the giver of life to man. Man, 
his creature, is under holy law. Sin entered 
human life through disobedience to God's 
revealed law, under the influence of tempta- 
tion. Sin bore its fruit then, as it ever does, 
in a curse upon the sinner. God revealed 
his will, and foreshadowed his purpose 



44 Shorten the Line. 

touching redemption, to fallen man. The 
essence of these truths no sane man can 
assail. 

In ' 'Jack-Knife and Brambles' ' Bishop 
Haygood has a brilliant chapter entitled 
''Hurrying on to Abraham," in which he 
points out that the writer of Genesis devotes 
eleven chapters to the stories of the creation, 
the fall, the upspringing of kindreds and 
nations, the deluge, and the confusion of 
tongues; and gives thirty-nine chapters to 
God's dealings with Abraham and his chil- 
dren. No doubt the story of Abraham is 
historic fact, as well authenticated as that 
of any man of the ancient world. But that 
is not the vital point. Is not the one great 
truth emphasized by the bishop — that the 
ultimate value with God is not planets, ages, 
or multitudes, but a maw— worth the telling 
of the story, if all the rest were but the foil 
for the setting of this one gem? But, in the 
story of Abraham— with his sinnings and 
wanderings, labors and losses, struggles and 
sorrows, prayers and sacrifices, visions and 



Historical Questions. 45 

victories— the story of a spirit tuned to the 
Infinite and responsive to the Almighty 
Will, there are many great and inspiring 
truths: truths to be taught and received, and 
loved and lived. 

In Exodus, which Dr. Charles R. Brown 
rightly calls "the history of an ancient labor 
movement,' ' interest centers in the social, 
rather than the individual. Many of the 
details are unimportant or, at most, of sec- 
ondary importance. But, besides being the 
best extant description of the process of the 
evolution of an ancient nation, it is inestima- 
bly precious as a portrayal of God's hand in 
nation-making. It reveals his compassion 
toward the oppressed and unfortunate: "I 
have surely seen the affliction of my people ! M 
It shows his hatred of slavery, which de- 
grades the human spirit. "Let my people 
go, that they may serve me, 1 ' sounds like a 
challenge to modern industry! But, above 
all this, there is the revelation of a Provi- 
dence and the inculcation of a law, which 
have inspired the faith and guided the 



46 Shorten the Line. 

morals of the world's greatest peoples down 
to the present time. 

We could thus pass through the entire 
Bible, pointing out how great arresting and 
teaching truths abound. But there are por- 
tions concerning the historic verity of which 
we need not dogmatize. The stories of the 
Garden of Eden (interpreted literally), of 
the creation of Eve out of Adam's rib; of 
the forbidden tree, the serpent, and the angel 
with the flaming sword; of the deluge, and 
the tower of Babel — these we are at liberty 
to interpret as seems best to accord with 
credible evidence; but their belief or disbelief 
need not affect character or personal salva- 
tion. Much less do they call for defense be- 
fore the world. 

There are many stories of similar charac- 
ter, which may be parabolic, poetic, or 
mythologic, which we are not called upon to 
defend as historic facts; much less to urge 
as spiritual and vital truth. What help or 
uplift does the Christian gain from the 
storv of Saul and the witch of Endor? How 



Historical Questions. 47 

is our faith or moral character strengthened 
by believing that Jonah, a Jewish prophet, 
dwelt three days alive in a great fish in the 
sea? The contention that Jesus, when in 
dealing with his enemies he gave this story 
as the "sign" of his death and resurrection, 
thereby vouched for its historic truth, is no 
more logical than to say that when a minister 
uses the character of Macbeth to illustrate 
his sermon, he vouches for the historic verity 
of Shakespeare's drama! I cannot see how 
believing that the earth stood still upon its 
axis to give a general time to finish a battle, 
that could just as well have been finished 
next day; or that the shadow moved back- 
ward on the dial to convince a king that he 
was not going to die, can add one jot or tittle 
to the essential faith of any man ! 

On the other hand, to insist upon the 
literal truth of stories like these will cer- 
tainly make belief needlessly hard for many 
honest seekers after truth. It puts effective 
weapons in the hands of scoffers and gain- 
sayers, who delight first to break down the 



48 Shorten the Line. 

faith of men in these nonessential stories, 
and then pass, by the very logic which we 
have furnished, to the destruction of faith 
in the eternal verities. And finally, these 
stories really help to solve no man's prob- 
lems ; their propagation and defense bear no 
fruit in human life. 



CHAPTER V. 
Doctrinal Questions. 

ANY body of doctrine that is to be be- 
lieved and taught will of necessity 
have to be carefully studied and thoroughly 
digested. The process of studying it, and 
much more the process of preparing to teach 
it, will demand that it be wrought into a 
system, or orderly plan. The form of the 
system will be determined largely by the 
prevailing philosophies and thought-proc- 
esses of the age. For this reason, one age 
cannot formulate the doctrinal systems — 
philosophical, political, social, or religious — 
for another. Human thought is progressive ; 
and, although in some realms an abiding and 
changeless basis of faith may be accepted, 
the form of its acceptance and expression 
will vary from age to age. Among monothe- 
istic peoples, God has ever been held to be 
self-existent, eternal, all-wise, all-powerful, 
and holy. But in one millennium he was a 
despot, in the next a benevolent King, in 
4 (49) 



50 Shorten the Line. 

the next a righteous Judge, and in the next 
a loving Father. 

The value of systematic statement of 
doctrine for purposes of study and teaching 
can hardly be overestimated. The earth's 
crust lies in splendid disorder everywhere, 
infinitely rich in a variety of substance, form, 
and beauty, that charms and awes the soul ; 
but if man would know anything of its ele- 
ments, structure, and properties, he must 
have a science of Geology. Selection, classi- 
fication, and definition are absolutely neces- 
sary, if we would arrive at a clear under- 
standing of any subject. The great Sam 
Jones sacrificed widsom to wit when he 
said, "I hate theology and botany, but I 
love religion and flowers!" 

Very naturally men approached the doc- 
trines of the Bible as a body of knowledge, 
in the mastery and propagation of which, 
selection, classification, combination, and 
definition were as essential as in any other. 
The doctrines were there in a charming 
miscellany; but to thoroughly grasp them 



Doctrinal Questions. 51 

and intelligently communicate them, they 
must needs be defined and correlated. If 
wisely done, this would greatly help toward 
the clear apprehension of truth. But one 
must know the limitations of his method; 
and while prizing the metal of truth above 
earth's finest gold, he must not overrate the 
value of the mold in which it is cast. 

Just here a danger arises. Just here an 
evil has entered that has wrought more 
injury to the faith and life of the Church 
than all its adversaries could do. We get to 
defending our definitions of doctrine, which 
in the Bible are left undefined; and very 
soon our theological terms assume all the 
value and authority of divine proclamations. 

Take, for example, the word " regenera- 
tion. " It is not in the Bible; although what 
we mean by it, when rightly understood, is 
clearly taught there. But men, by pressing 
the term, with all its literal implications, 
have led themselves and others into griev- 
ous errors: for instance, that no person ever 
enters the kingdom of God but by a re-birth. 



52 Shorten the Line. 

Infant children are therefore outside the 
kingdom ! To remedy this, some theologians 
have invented ' l baptismal regeneration , ' ' 
that by this sacramental washing infants 
may be ushered into the kingdom of heaven. 
Others have invented a " special provision 
of divine grace" whereby the child, dying 
in infancy, is admitted to heaven! In con- 
trast with these conclusions, Jesus plainly 
says of little children, "To such belongeth 
the kingdom of heaven." And he says to 
the adult sinners, "Except ye turn, and be- 
come as little children, ye shall in no wise 
enter into the kingdom of heaven!" 

The word "regeneration," innocent in it- 
self, by having been wrongly played upon 
and emphasized, has doubtless been re- 
sponsible for these errors. Be it remembered 
that Jesus was talking to an old man when 
he proclaimed a new birth as the way into 
the kingdom. And, as a matter of fact, he 
did not say, "Ye must be born again 91 ; but, 
"Ye must be born from above. 19 If we must 
have a non-scriptural word to express this 



Doctrinal Questions. 53 

doctrine, "supergeneration" would seem to 
be the better term. To the adult sinner, it 
would still be " regeneration"; and for such, 
regeneration is correct. 

Again, "The Trinity* ' is a theological ex- 
pression which does not occur in the Bible. 
Even the doctrine of the Trinity is nowhere 
directly stated there, although it is clearly 
implied. But many a man fails utterly to 
be able to grasp the fact that there are three 
Persons who are one Being— and each, 
separately, that Being in all fullness. Very 
well; let the honest doubter know that his 
salvation does not depend on his believing 
this theological mystery. The fact that it 
has produced the highest type of Christian 
yet seen ought to commend it to the candid 
inquirer. But this not always being the 
case, we dare not close the door of the king- 
dom of heaven to an earnest seeker, because 
he cannot conscientiously say, "I accept 
that!" 

Some excellent Christians have substi- 
tuted the idea of a threefold function, or 



54 Shorten the Line. 

threefold manifestation, for that of the 
triune Personality. Do they thereby honor 
the Father, Son, and Koly Spirit less than 
the out-and-out Trinitarians? I think not. 
Surely this intellectual peculiarity does not 
hinder one who believes in God, from loving 
him with all his soul and mind and strength. 
What more can we demand? 

The Virgin Birth of Jesus is a doctrine at 
which many stumble. We believe it; but 
do we find any reason for insisting that one 
must believe it in order to be saved? That 
Jesus and the New Testament writers at- 
tached no such transcendent importance to 
it, is shown by the fact that it is briefly 
stated in two of the Gospels, but is not re- 
ferred to elsewhere. Those who claim that 
to deny it is to make Jesus of low birth, and 
besmirch the character of his mother, use 
bad logic. The most that would be involved 
in denying its historical truth would be to 
treat it as a pious legend — not a deliberate 
invention, but a growth incident to the oral 
transmission of the gospel narrative. And 



Doctrinal Questions. 55 

if such a legend had grown, it could easily 
have changed a pure married woman into a 
betrothed virgin. My point is, not to defend 
this theory ; but to show that one who holds 
it does not necessarily dishonor the holy 
family, nor reject Jesus as his Divine 
Saviour. 

William Ellery Channing, the Unitarian, 
denied the deity of Jesus — that is, his full 
and perfect Godhood ; yet Channing believed 
in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the 
Saviour of the world, the giver of eternal 
life. To us, there is much more in Jesus than 
that; but, after all, is not that the saving 
part of the gospel truth? If any man can 
receive only so much, let us rejoice that he 
receives that which saves. If he rejects 
other truths which are precious to us, let us 
be sorry that he misses the riches of a fuller 
faith. 

The Inspiration of the Scriptures is dif- 
ferently understood by different men. Some 
hold the theory of Verbal Inspiration — that 
is, that the exact language of every part of 



56 Shorten the Line. 

the Sacred Writings was dictated by the 
Holy Spirit; that the man thus inspired was 
virtually no more than a passive instrument, 
coerced and controlled by the divine afflatus; 
and therefore that every utterance of proph- 
et or sacred writer is infallible— the words of 
Solomon just as infallible as those of Paul 
or John. Others hold the theory of Plenary 
Inspiration: an inspiration which, while 
recognizing and allowing individual pecu- 
liarities of mind and temperament, never- 
theless excludes all error in thought, and 
guards against all defect of utterance, in the 
inspired message. Still others maintain that 
the inspiration of the Scriptures is Dynamic: 
meaning that the writers used their own 
faculties, and that, while they were under 
the same human limitations as other men, 
and therefore liable to fall into error in the 
detailed statement of matters of fact, yet 
the Holy Spirit specially empowered them 
in the discernment and communication of 
truth. Each of these theories, with number- 



Doctrinal Questions. 57 

less additions and variations, has been held 
by intelligent and truly spiritual men. 

Again, there are wise and faithful men 
who deny that any one of these theories— 
or any other theory of divine inspiration— 
is true of the Bible as a whole. They main- 
tain, not that the Bible is the Word of God, 
but that it "contains the Word of God." 
It is a progressive revelation, in which are 
recorded God's dealings with his people, 
and the development of the faith and spir- 
itual life of mankind. It contains all the 
spiritual truth that man needs to know, 
and "is able to make him wise unto salva- 
tion." 

Is a man necessarily an enemy of divine 
truth, or a dangerous heretic, because he 
holds this latter view? Not at all. Provided 
one accepts the essential truths — the saving 
gospel of Jesus Christ — he may believe all 
the rest, ' ' from cover to cover ' ■ — may believe 
in any one of these methods of inspiration, 
or may think that God, at different times, 
used all of them — or he may hold reserva- 



58 Shorten the Line. 

tions about nonessential things. Dissent 
from any theory need not mar his religious 
life ; but if he is wise and earnest, he will not 
emphasize his dissent, but will cultivate his 
faith. 

Meanwhile the Christian is not given the 
task of defending the entire sweep of his- 
tory, narrative, miracle, prophecy, and po- 
etic symbol, which all acknowledge to have 
been written by at least forty authors— very 
probably many more— through a period of 
more than a thousand years. 



I 



CHAPTER VI. 
The Case of Science. 

F the adversary of souls rejoices in hin- 
dering the kingdom of God, he must take 
a fiendish delight in the indefensible and 
unreasonable waste of time which Christians 
have indulged, in fighting the conclusions of 
science— false or true. If God is the Author 
both of Creation and Revelation, they are 
not in conflict with each other. No fact is 
at war with another fact, in all God's uni- 
verse. If the discoveries of astronomy are 
true, and the Bible is true, then, rightly 
understood, they agree. But alas! we know 
only a small fraction of the truth — and our 
quarrels are practically all about what we 
do not know. 

The theorists of one school gravely inform 
us that evolution is an established fact; 
another school as gravely tells us that evo- 
lution is an exploded fallacy. The fact is, 
it is both, and it is neither. Some conclu- 
sions of evolution are established. We see 

(59) 



60 Shorten the Line. 

the process all about us. Development is 
everywhere. But, that evolution is itself a 
creative force, or that force, operating 
blindly upon purely material elements, by 
materialistic laws, has developed man, with 
his wealth of intellect, sensibility, and will, 
and his spiritual intuition and aspiration, is 
a very much exploded opinion. Indeed, 
materialism, which sets in motion a living, 
orderly, intelligible universe, with no intel- 
ligent and directive Will behind it, never 
needed to be exploded. Attenuated hot 
air, held together by nothing, never explodes. 
" Spontaneous generation/' which means 
self-creation, never was anything but non- 
sense. But it by no means follows that the 
evolutionist is necessarily a fool. If he 
knows the limitations of his hypothesis, he 
may be the wisest of men — and not the least 
useful. 

In dealing with such questions, let us not 
forget that many scientific discoveries, which 
were at first resisted by misguided champions 
of religious dogma, as subversive of the very 



The Case of Science. 61 

foundations of the faith, are now accepted 
as beyond controversy by all intelligent 
men; yet no Christian's faith is hurt. Since 
geologists have unsealed the mighty volume 
of the earth's crust, and read the records of 
hundreds of thousands of years in the 
granite characters of Nature's handwriting, 
no one any longer contends that the world 
was made in six days. And while the 
geologist has been busy with the earth, the 
astronomer has been busy with the heavens. 
The fixed stars, of which we can see 
some five thousand, are now known to 
number at least thirty millions; and these 
are thought by some to be only a fraction 
of the material universe. That around 
these millions of suns, hundreds of mil- 
lions of worlds are rolling, is a common, 
and not improbable, belief! What is be- 
lieved by competent scientists to be an 
accurate process for the measurement of 
the heavenly bodies was recently applied to 
one of the bright stars in the constellation 
of Orion, called Betelgeuse, and it was found 



62 Shorten the Line. 

to be twenty-seven million times as large as 
the sun. Even Mr. Wesley, were he living 
to-day, would not expect the stars of the 
heavens to fall to the earth ! 

If it could be established beyond dispute 
that life, starting with the lowest conceiva- 
ble forms, has climbed, by endless variations 
and improvements, through uncounted cy- 
cles of time, till the acme of evolution has 
been reached in man, it would rob the God 
of Creation of none of his glory. That life 
never rises except when acted upon by life 
from above, will remain a fact that never 
can be successfully controverted or dis- 
credited. Matter, force, law, and life — 
words that are always upon the tongues of 
scientific men — are utterly beyond explana- 
tion, without faith in a living, free, and all- 
wise Creator! 

Science concerns itself with phenomena 
and secondary causes. Its function is to deal 
with the "How" of things. It knows noth- 
ing of the "Who," and very little of the 
"Why." The writer of Genesis tells us that 



The Case of Science. 63 

God made all things. Darwin undertakes 
to tell us how they were made. The prophet 
tells us whence we came, and why we are 
here. The scientist would fain tell us how 
we got here, and how best to stay here. So 
far as the divine Word is concerned, we are 
at liberty to believe as we please— or as we 
must — about processes, forces, and sec- 
ondary causes. 

But if we reject in toto the conclusions of 
science, and all the theories of evolution, we 
are not called upon to combat them in the 
minds of other men. We are not really de- 
fending "the faith once delivered to the 
saints" when we are opposing the conclu- 
sions of Spencer and Darwin. If these great 
men read the book of Nature and failed to 
recognize the Divine Handwriting that 
gleams on every page, it is very sad. But 
let us give them justice. They brought to 
light much truth; they discovered and classi- 
fied many valuable facts; and they advanced 
hypotheses which have made the universe 
more intelligible, and which, from the stand- 



64 Shorten the Line. 

point of probability, are not to be despised. 
And we should be glad that they lived ; and 
glad that they had the courage to attack— 
and the brains to attack with such effect- 
problems that are oppressive in their magni- 
tude. 

Science has its realm— as distinct from 
that of religion as a stone is from a heart- 
throb. The two can live together, and not 
jostle each other. Nay, they can, in a 
thousand ways, help and strengthen each 
other. It will sometimes happen that the 
would-be scientist will transcend his realm, 
and attempt to deliver theological opinions. 
In such case, the best answer is to call him 
a fool— for such he is!— as great a fool as 
the Christian minister who tries to teach 
science to a Tyndall or an Edison. No 
matter what our personal opinions may be, 
it is a waste of time to defend a theological 
probability against a scientific conjecture ! 



CHAPTER VII. 
The Shortened Line. 

IN war it is often found the best strategy, 
as much as possible, to straighten and 
shorten the line of attack or defense, thereby 
concentrating the fire and holding a larger 
force in reserve. No wise general would 
spread his army in a thin line over an exten- 
sive plain to meet an enemy, when it was 
possible to entrench them behind impregna- 
ble barriers and stop the invader by holding 
a mountain pass. The wise champion of 
religious truth finds not only moral strength, 
but also great strategic advantage, in looking 
only to things fundamental. 

In all ordinary matters men are content 
with a fair degree of probability. That is 
received and acted upon as truth which 
seems to be supported by a preponderance 
of evidence. Positive demonstration is 
possible in comparatively few matters. 
What men have called moral certainty is, in 
most cases, satisfactory. But in religion 
5 (65) 



66 Shorten the Line. 

men want certainty. The human spirit will 
rest content with nothing short of the infalli- 
ble. Hence, in all ages, the search for the 
infallible has been the unending quest of 
mind and heart. Paganism has had its 
infallible oracles, and its infallible portents 
and omens. Romanism has its infallible 
Church, infallible councils, and infallible 
pope. Enlightened and devout reason has 
rejected these infallibilities; and Protestant- 
ism has rallied around the infallible Book. 
This is far more satisfactory; for while 
Church and councils and popes are variable 
and, in spite of creedal barriers, will shift 
and alter as new issues rise, the Book is in a 
sense static; its ultimate truths are set in 
fixed and changeless forms. They are not 
subject to the vicissitudes of living, growing, 
changing tongues; but stand expressed in 
the unyielding terms of languages that are 
dead. 

It seems providential that the Hebrew 
language lived and grew till it reached a high 
degree of perfection, embodied "the Law 



The Shortened Line. 67 

and the Prophets/ ' then died; and that the 
Greek prevailed till it attained a richness 
and beauty that have never been excelled, 
embodied the Divine Evangel, then crystal- 
lized into static form— unchanging because 
unused! 

But to many modern minds the Bible, 
which, in a sense, is a product of the Church 
—being a record of the highest and pro- 
foundest experiences and spiritual intui- 
tions of those who have lived closest to God 
—is not, in all details, infallible. Such men 
should have no quarrel with the man to 
whom it is so. He who believes— or per- 
suades himself that he believes — in the lit- 
eral truth and historic verity of every line, 
from the first of Genesis to the last of 
Revelation, may be the wisest man of ail- 
certainly he is not the least happy. 

But neither has he a right to quarrel with 
the conscientious man who takes a more 
restricted view of what is divine within the 
Book. He may treasure every word within 
his own heart; but if he undertakes to fight 



68 Shorten the Line. 

alike for all of it, he must needs occupy a 
longer line than he can defend. Much less 
can he make head against the enemy while 
trying to man so many positions that really 
protect and support nothing vital. It may 
be found best and wisest, whatever personal 
convictions we may entertain, to leave Noah 
and Jonah to sail their own craft; the Solar 
System, standing at attention while Joshua's 
army fights, to shift for itself; the Song of 
Solomon to make what impression it can; 
and the imprecatory psalms to voice their 
curses without Christian sanction. These 
matters are vital to the immortal interests of 
no human spirit. It may be hard positively 
to prove that they are not literally true ; but 
it certainly would be easier to believe that 
they are Oriental, poetic parables, whose 
meaning is partly lost. In any view, the 
most that need be said for them is, that some 
of them teach us practical lessons and illus- 
trate moral truth, while others give us in- 
sight into the religious thoughts, emotions, 
and ideals of the past. To assert, as many 



The Shortened Line. 69 

do, that failing to contend for a part of the 
Bible is virtually to reject the whole, is 
about as sensible as to say that the pilot de- 
spises the whole river when he avoids sand 
bars, shoals, and eddies, and keeps to the 
main channel! 

But, it may be asked, is there any verity 
in faith? Is there anything infallible to 
which we can turn? Yes! There is an ob- 
jective Infallible, and there is a subjective 
Infallible. Objectively, God is infallible. 
He is here, expressed ', all about us! He is 
not a "God afar off," who occasionally inter- 
feres in the affairs of the world by Provi- 
dence. But he is immanent and all-pervad- 
ing. "Closer is he than breathing, and 
nearer than hands and feet!" Whatever he 
chooses to reveal, he reveals— to those who 
have the faculty for its reception. Words 
have been spoken and written by men, that 
the dullest must perceive did not originate 
with man. Thoughts have come, and 
truths have been received by us, which did 
not originate in any human brain. Men 



70 Shorten the Line. 

uttered them; but not till God had first 
inbreathed them. "It is a Spirit in man, 
and the inbreathing of an Almighty One, 
that gives him understanding/' This is 
inspiration. And the highest, most uni- 
versal, comprehensive, profound, and satis- 
fying truths ever given to men, are con- 
tained in the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testaments. Nothing could appear ante- 
cedently more probable than that God would 
speak to man. Nothing is more certain 
than that he has spoken to men; and if he 
ever has spoken, the message is in the Bible. 
Yet, true as this is, the sacred writers were 
not the last to hear his voice. 

The subjective Infallible is each man's 
own experience. Not that any one man's 
experience is infallible to another; nor that 
his interpretation of the experience is neces- 
sarily free from error. But of the experience 
itself, each human soul may be absolutely 
sure. A thousand things "I know not; one 
thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, 
now I see." Of sin and its power, and its 



The Shortened Line. 71 

punishment, I know infallibly. " Repent- 
ance toward God, and faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ,' ' I have experienced — and so 
may every one. I know the sense of forgive- 
ness; I know the changed life; I know the 
witness of the Spirit; I know what the Bible 
has done for me; I know the meaning of an- 
swered prayer; I know, in some measure, the 
sweetness and security of a divinely guided 
life! Yea, "I know Him whom I have be- 
lieved!" These are verities — facts of experi- 
ence — more to be trusted than the solid 
earth beneath our feet; more dependable 
than the consciousness of bodily health, or 
of the sanity of the mind. 

Here the Infallible God, communicating 
to the inner life an Infallible Experience, 
gives certitude to faith. Whatever else we 
may believe and be assured of, may help, 
steady, and strengthen us. But here, in the 
tested facts of Christian experience, are the 
Fundamentals. These we can defend ; these 
we are sent to declare to all men. These 
constitute an invulnerable armor for mind 



72 Shorten the Line. 

and spirit. These reduce the Christian's 

line of battle to the minimum length, and 

increase its force to the maximum of 

strength. 

Why do men turn from these fundamental 
elements of the spiritual life, and spend their 
strength on mere superficialities? We can 
find no answer, unless it be, that the super- 
ficial, if zealously preached, can win a fol- 
lowing without harassing its champions with 
any compelling moral or spiritual obliga- 
tions; while the eternal fundamentals of re- 
ligion, to be fruitful, must be know r n and 
felt and lived ! But he who believes, realizes, 
practices, defends, and propagates those 
truths and principles that lie at the heart 
of pure religion, will find his life so rich and 
full and busy as to leave no time, room, or 
appetite for squabbles over things nones- 
sential I 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Prayer the Key and Test. 

"T KNOW the meaning of answered 
JL prayer V This statement, made in the 
foregoing chapter, calls for enlargement. 
Some men who scout atheism still say, "I 
cannot believe in a God who answers 
prayer." And many thoughtful Christians 
find it hard to comprehend, or even truly 
believe, that, in a universe of law, there is a 
place for effectual prayer— prayer that is 
heard and answered. But when the test 
comes, all sane and normal men pray. It 
is said that a man once took his son — a 
little boy whose mental peculiarities had 
filled the minds of his parents with the 
gravest apprehensions— to a specialist, to 
ascertain what his mental possibilities were. 
When the father had described the boy's 
symptoms, the man of science asked, "Does 
he value money ?" The father answered: 
"No, he seems to have no idea of its value." 
The specialist put a second question: "Does 

(73) 



74 Shorten the Line, 

he ever pray?" And the father replied: 
"No, he never seems to think of prayer/' 
The specialist then answered: "He is an 
idiot, or imbecile; for the normal child likes 
money, and the sane child will pray!" 
Whatever theories our cold speculations 
may lead us into, in the crises of life, if we 
are normal, we pray. 

It is not within the plan of this simple 
discussion to go at length into the philosophy 
of prayer. The main difficulty resolves it- 
self into something like this: "Can prayer 
really affect anything? Does it bring re- 
sults? Does God, who ever works according 
to unchanging laws, alter his plans, his con- 
duct, or his attitude, in response to our 
prayers?" 

Let us understand what we mean by 
God's laws. Laws really do nothing, either 
in the natural or spiritual world. God is in 
his world, as truly as ever he was; and he is 
working through all the laws that we know 
anything about. "My Father worketh 
hitherto, and I work," said the Son of God. 



Prayer the Key and Test. 75 

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? 
and not one of them shall fall on the ground 
without your Father." Observe, Jesus does 
not say, as often quoted, "without your 
Father's notice/ ' but "without your Fa- 
ther/ ' In the very fall of the sparrow, God 
is present ! He works now in every atom in 
which he ever worked. As the sun warms 
and nourishes every flower and leaf and 
blade of grass, so God pulsates in every life, 
and drives every heartbeat! 

When water is pumped from the great 
wells upon the rice fields, does God change 
his plans, or suspend his laws, to mature and 
ripen the grain — in response to man's en- 
deavor? Certainly not; but he is in the 
growing of the rice just the same. The truth 
is that, by a divine law, the productiveness 
of that field was contingent on the very 
work that was done. A result is thus ob- 
tained from the divine goodness that never 
would have come, but for this labor. So, 
prayer fulfills the requirement of a spiritual 
law, as truly, sanely, and logically, as irriga- 



76 Shorten the Line. 

tion fulfills the requirement of a natural 
law. 

Although Jesus says, "Ask, and ye shall 
receive," prayer is much more than merely 
asking. Prayer is communion with God, in 
thanksgiving, adoration, supplication, and 
intercession. Its privileges and benefits are 
available to all who truly seek the Lord. It 
is the key to God's gifts and the test of his 
promises. 

The most perverse heart, once awakened, 
can betake itself to prayer, and can pray its 
way into repentance. The earnest prayer 
of the penitent soul will lead to faith, to 
pardon, regeneration, and fellowship with 
God. "Whosoever shall call on the name 
of the Lord shall be saved." The Holy 
Spirit comes to us in answer to prayer: 
"How much more shall your Heavenly 
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that 
ask him." When the Spirit comes, he will 
"guide us into all truth"; he will "shed 
abroad" the love of God in our hearts; he 
will be our Comforter; he will "bear witness 



Prayer the Key and Test. 77 

with our spirits that we are the children of 
God"; and we " shall receive power, when 
the Holy Spirit is come upon us," to be wit- 
nesses for Jesus Christ. All this is available 
through prayer. If we "lack wisdom," we 
are told to "ask of God . . . and it shall be 
given us." This truth needs proclaiming; 
and it needs to be practiced. There is not 
much reason to argue it; for every one may 
test it for himself. And it will settle every- 
thing. No sane man who really lives a life 
of prayer will ever become a dangerous 
heretic. A praying Church will not stray 
from the fundamentals. 

This means that every man may know 
God for himself. God is not the God of the 
Jews only; nor did he cease revealing himself 
when the last apostle died. " In him we live, 
and move, and have our being." The 
Christian should be conscious of this. His 
"life is hid with Christ in God." "This is 
life eternal, that they should know thee the 
only true God, and him whom thou didst 
send, even Jesus Christ." Living thus, the 



78 Shorten the Line. 

Christian " walks by faith" daily; and he 
takes God into his confidence in the smallest 
matters. 

I believe it is Dr. Faunce who says, in 
substance, that the Christian of mature 
mind cannot ask God to "work a miracle" 
to heal his sick child. It is safe to say that, 
when the learned doctor wrote that, no 
child of his was fighting an uneven battle 
with death, in an adjoining room! All 
thinking men have had their hours of cold 
logic and speculation. But when our loved 
one is sick, the first aid that we call is God. 
We put the patient in his hands first. Then 
we call the doctor; and we put the doctor 
in his hands. When the medicines are pre- 
scribed and compounded, we put the medi- 
cines in his hands. And then, as we nurse 
the dear one — too precious, maybe, to trust 
to any other hands! — we put ourselves and 
the entire matter in God's hands, and re- 
mind him of it every moment ! If the "very 
hairs of our heads are all numbered," then 
our afflictions, sorrows, problems, losses — 



Prayer the Key and Test. 79 

even our financial difficulties, and our do- 
mestic concerns, should be subjects of prayer. 

But does it accomplish anything? This 
writer can definitely answer that his experi- 
ence has been such as to place the matter 
forever beyond debate so far as he is con- 
cerned. 

Prayer, then, is to the Christian a re- 
source that places the deepest questions of 
the soul beyond the assaults of doubt or 
carping criticism. Know God for yourself. 
Let your communion with him be real, vital, 
unceasing. And feed your faith. Study the 
Bible — fearlessly, earnestly, reverently. 
Find there his word for you. Get help from 
learned men. Do not despise either the pro- 
gressive or the conservative scholars; but 
follow no man blindly. Reverence the creeds 
and theologies of the past; but do not let 
them fetter your soul. Spend no time in de- 
fending or propagating what is of no vital 
concern to you, or any living human being. 
"Prove all things: hold fast that which is 
good." By faith, prayer, and practice, 



80 Shorten the Line. 

verify the verities: live in them, and, with 
all possible diligence, seek to make them real 
to others. "If any man willeth to do his 
will, he shall know" — know all that he needs 
to know in order to be a strong, trustful, 
happy, useful child of God. Prayer is the 
key to all God's mercies, and the test of all 
his will concerning us. 



CHAPTER IX. 
The Modern Prophet. 

THE world's thought is unsettled; its 
philosophies and opinions are in a 
state of flux; even its moral, ethical, and 
social ideals are in solution. Old systems of 
religion, philosophy, politics, industry, com- 
merce, education, and social life are under- 
going reexamination, and there is little 
fixedness anywhere. The situation is fraught 
with danger; but it is also laden with oppor- 
tunity. The line of march will finally take 
the direction given it by the most competent 
leadership. Much as there is of bombast, 
dilettantism, and time-serving among the 
would-be leaders of to-day, to-morrow's 
leaders must know where they are going, 
and must be sincere. 

In establishing new world ideals, and de- 
veloping a new world character, religion 
must be, not merely a part of the program, 
but the heart of it. And a religion equal to 
this task must center in and flow from a 
6 (81) 



82 Shorten the Line. 

Church whose life is grounded in reality, 
and whose spirit is in conscious touch with 
God. A Church of merely nominal Chris- 
tians, standing for a merely formal faith, 
will not be able to mold, inspire, and direct 
the mind and heart of the future. But men 
of convictions and character, "good men, 
full of the Holy Spirit and of faith' — 

"Tall men, sun-crown'd, who live above the fog 
In public duty and in private thinking" — 

can bring the governments and institutions 
of men under the sway of the Christ whom 
they serve. God is calling, and the world is 
waiting, for a Church of manly men and 
womanly women, whose mental, spiritual, 
and social powers are fully developed and 
wholly under the dominion of Christ. 

The indispensable qualifications of the 
ministry that is to develop and lead such a 
Church are four: Consecration, Character, 
Culture, and Common Sense. These quali- 
fications are not new; but they are demanded 
with a new urgency in the present age. 

1. Personal Consecration must begin with 



The Modern Prophet. 83 

a determined abandonment of sin and self, 
and a whole-hearted faith in Jesus Christ. 
This faith is not a mere opinion. It is such 
a profound confidence in, and unreserved 
trust of, the Saviour as involves the uncon- 
ditional surrender of the whole man, with all 
his interests and possibilities, to him. Here 
Christian experience begins, sins are for- 
given, the heart is cleansed, and the whole 
nature is " created anew in Christ Jesus." 
Receiving Christ* not by fancy or feeling, 
but by faith, he is given " the right to become 
a child of God"; is adopted into the family 
of the Heavenly Father; the Holy Spirit is 
given him, by which "the love of God is 
shed abroad in his heart." 

These are facts of experience. An assur- 
ance is given him that they are real. "The 
Spirit itself beareth witness with his spirit, 
that he is a child of God." He is "born from 
above," and knows it. "Being justified by 
faith, he has peace with God through the 
Lord Jesus Christ;" and while he may not 
be directly conscious of the process, he 



84 Shorten the Line. 

definitely knows the result. Thenceforward, 
he has but to use the means of grace — the 
study of the Word, fellowship with God's 
people, the ordinances of the Church, per- 
sonal prayer, and devotion — and he will 
"grow in grace" to perfect manhood in 
Christ. 

This personal consecration makes him a 
child of God ; but, if he is to be an ambassa- 
dor of the Cross, there must be a definite 
consecration to this specific work. To this 
he must be "called of God." And he will 
know his calling and acceptance. The Holy 
Spirit's urging and testimony are as con- 
sciously experienced in this as in conversion. 
Inwardly conscious and infallibly certain of 
these spiritual experiences, the man of God 
has a foundation upon which he can build 
without fear. He can say to the world, 
"We speak that which we knowV 

2. It is inconceivable that God should call 
a mental or moral weakling into this work. 
But it is easily conceivable that the strong 
man, once called and consecrated, may be- 



The Modern Prophet. 85 

come weak, by falling into negligence, fa- 
naticism, worldliness, or secret sin. Or, it 
is conceivable that a weakling may imag- 
ine himself thus called. He may feign or 
imagine the experience involved — and some 
part of it he may, up to his capacity, actu- 
ally possess. But, in the ministry, he will 
fail miserably; and his personal failure will 
be the smallest part of the tragedy: he will 
discredit the Church and her message. 

The ambassador of Christ must be a man 
of Character. He must have strength of 
personality ; his soul must be of oaken fiber, 
and the whole course and bent of his life 
full of integrity and purpose. There is no 
place for the recluse or Pharisee in the 
Christian pulpit. He who is to be the 
teacher and counselor of old and young 
must be a man among men; and a man of 
such sterling worth that his personality will 
stand for more in the community than that 
of any other man. 

3. He who is called to preach is called to 
prepare himself for the work. While he 



86 Shorten the Line. 

must remain a simple-hearted, loving, ap- 
proachable man, his work will demand a 
deep and broad Culture. It is just this that 
is giving many honest people much concern 
to-day. We have been insisting on an edu- 
cated ministry, and urging the young preach- 
er to study. Now he is doing it, and we are 
alarmed at his disregard of ready-made 
opinions and conventional forms of creedal 
statement. Nevertheless, two facts may be 
verified by any who will take the trouble to 
do so: (1) The young preacher is generally 
more zealous for the " faith of our fathers" 
than the man of more mature years; and 
(2) the heart of our ministry is as sound 
to-day as ever it has been. 

But, in acquiring the necessary culture, 
the minister cannot be held to any beaten 
track. Thrilled by his own experience, and 
burning with zeal for his message, he rever- 
ently takes up his Bible to learn what the 
full content of the message is to be. He 
reads it in various versions: perhaps in the 
Hebrew and Greek. Its great fundamentals 



The Modern Prophet. 87 

stand out like mountain peaks; and its de- 
lineations of human character and experi- 
ence, according with the profoundest reali- 
ties of his own soul, are as "deep calling 
unto deep/' 

However, as he ponders what he reads, 
many of the details confound him. How to 
account for them, he cannot tell ; whether to 
believe them or not, he does not know; but 
that he does not understand them, is very 
clear. 

Quite properly, he seeks light from the 
writings of those who have gone deepest 
into the matter. If his mastery of the sub- 
ject is to be more than superficial, he must 
follow the best minds, as far as possible, in 
all their researches. Some of these will keep 
within traditional lines, but will leave his 
problems where they were; others may seem 
to travel far afield, but they will at least at- 
tempt to answer his questions. If he slavish- 
ly follows the former, he may become a 
priest of the altar; but never a Prophet of 
the Spirit! 



88 Shorten the Line. 

As he advances in his survey of the field 
of modern Biblical scholarship, he will find 
it maintained, with much show of reason, 
that some of the early stories that have 
puzzled him were taken from ancient Baby- 
lonian mythologic traditions; that although 
some heroic tales, poems, and ballads were 
composed and published orally, even in 
early nomadic times, little was committed 
to writing until the days of Solomon, the 
greater part not till after the division of the 
kingdom; that the earlier portions are com- 
posite works, compiled from several separate 
documents, revealing distinct differences in 
point of view, according as the writers repre- 
sented the Southern or Northern kingdom; 
that the book of Deuteronomy was largely 
produced during the reign of Josiah; that 
the Psalms were not written by David, but 
are the sacred psalmody and lyric poetry of 
an extensive period of time; many of them 
inspired by spiritual aspirations and experi- 
ences, but many others by foreign oppres- 
sions, social wrongs, or partisan strife; that 



The Modern Prophet. 89 

even some of the greater Prophetic Books, 
like Isaiah, are products of more than one 
author, and nearly all needing to be rear- 
ranged in order to be intelligently studied. 
He will find nonessential portions of the New 
Testament challenged, many traditional in- 
terpretations rejected, and questions of 
sources and authorship debated. 

All this the student is at liberty to reject: 
if he deems the evidence given in its support 
insufficient, he is morally bound to reject it. 
But, suppose the evidence is, to his mind, 
convincing. What would we have him do? 
Certainly not pretend to believe what he 
does not, or to reject what he believes. 
Then, is he unfitted for the ministry? Some 
unhesitatingly answer, "Yes." But why? 
Has he ceased to be a pardoned sinner? 
Has he lost his Christian experience, or his 
faith in Christ as the Saviour of men? No 
such conclusion necessarily follows. Has 
God withdrawn his call to preach ; or can he 
lay down his divinely appointed work at 
will? No! The assurance of his personal 



90 Shorten the Line. 

salvation is as deep and steadfast, and the 
call of God rings with as great clearness in 
his soul, as when he believed that Moses 
wrote all of the Pentateuch and that David 
wrote most of the Psalms. 

Nor will the conclusions of modern science 
—whatever view he may take of them — 
blight his spiritual experience, or disturb his 
faith in essential truth. No respectable 
theory of science, rightly understood, chal- 
lenges the sovereignty of God or the divine 
character and work of Jesus Christ. If 
Geology, Astronomy, Evolution, and kin- 
dred sciences — by their revelations of im- 
mensity; of the tremendous sweep of incon- 
ceivable stretches of time; of nature's slow, 
orderly processes in world-making — create 
for him a larger universe, they will also 
bring to the devout student large and in- 
spiring views of Him who is the Creator and 
Ruler of it all ! In all departments of knowl- 
edge, he will fearlessly accept whatever con- 
clusions seem to bear the stamp of truth. 
They will not unhinge the faith of a spiritu- 



The Modern Prophet. 91 

ally minded man. They cannot rob him of 
his heritage of experience, nor relieve him of 
his obligation to publish the "Glad Tid'frigs" 
to others. 

4. Such culture will have given to the 
modern prophet such a viewpoint and 
vantage ground for the study of his Bible 
as will add immensely to the richness and 
potency of his message. The inexhaustible 
treasures of spiritual, moral, ethical, and 
social teaching, stripped of nonessential de- 
tails, he will be able to present and enforce 
with reference to the needs of his own time. 

But in the practical use of all that he has 
experienced and acquired, the effective 
preacher must use Common Sense. This 
will, of course, regulate his ordinary inter- 
course with his people. But it must espe- 
cially be in evidence in dealing with the 
Bible and its saving message. What if he 
repudiates the theories of Science and 
Criticism? He will not feel called upon to 
attack them in his preaching. Most of his 
people know but little of them — and care 



92 Shorten the Line. 

less. Besides, the belief or disbelief of these 
theories, not affecting any man's immortal 
interests, are not proper themes for preach- 
ing. If, on the other hand, he accepts all or 
a part of them, they will not enter into his 
preaching — for the same reason. They are 
no part of the message that saves sinners, 
reforms nations, and edifies the children of 
God. 

It may be asked then, "Of what use are 
they to him?" We cannot here give an ex- 
haustive answer; but the most outstanding 
benefits may be noted. First, having learned 
to discriminate between the erroneous and 
the true, the well-authenticated and the 
doubtful, the essential and the nonessential, 
he can more intelligently and effectively se- 
lect, arrange, and present the truths of his 
message. Secondly, having explored all the 
ground, he can walk with greater confidence 
and assurance upon that which he feels im- 
pelled to occupy and defend. Thirdly, hav- 
ing seen the relation, or non-relation, of 
these intellectual questions to the fund a- 



The Modern Prophet. 93 

mentals of saving faith, he experiences no 
uneasiness about the safety of what is vital. 
Fourthly, he will have among his people 
those whose minds are troubled by these 
questions; and his thorough acquaintance 
with the problems will enable him, both to 
command their confidence, and to relieve 
their anxieties. And finally, he can meet 
the scientific— or would-be scientific— agnos- 
tic, on his own ground, and vanquish him. 

Such a course of preparation will involve 
many a conflict with doubt. If he is a man 
of character — who does not fly from diffi- 
culties, nor try to sneak around them but 
resolutely meets and fights his way through 
them — and if he is possessed of a real spir- 
itual experience, he will win. These con- 
flicts will only try his soul, and prove his 
worth; and his victory will leave him "thor- 
oughly furnished" for his divine vocation. 

His personal experience, his conviction of 
the urgency of things vital, and his love to 
God and men, will impel him to shorten his 
battle line and hold to things fundamental. 



CHAPTER X. 
The Church of To-Morrow. 

WHEN Saul of Tarsus was converted, it 
is said that "there fell from his eyes 
as it were scales/ ' And no wonder! Reared 
in a home where the atmosphere was charged 
with the spirit and ideals of the most exclu- 
sive religion and the most intensely national- 
istic patriotism; educated in the priestly 
schools, and saturated with the traditional 
doctrines, laws, and ritualistic formalism of 
a faith that had become fossilized, and a 
cult that had grown effete; encased in the 
thick incrustations of a soulless, visionless 
Pharisaism — a soul could not have been 
more blind to the living, shining realities of 
the world of the spirit than was he. His cult 
loved to pray, " standing in the synagogues 
and in the corners of the streets," but knew 
not the God who was in the homes and 
fields and upon the highways amidst com- 
mon men. They paid tithes of "mint, and 
anise, and cumin, " but knew not the spir- 
(94) 



The Church of To-Morrow. 95 

itual worth of " justice, and mercy, and 
faith.' ' They garnished the sepulchers of 
the prophets, but refused the spiritual mes- 
sage which these prophets had proclaimed. 
They " searched the Scriptures,' ' thinking 
that "in them they had eternal life," but 
failing to find their testimony to Him who 
is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," 
without whom "no man cometh unto the 
Father!" Saul not only believed in all these 
things; but he was devoted to them with 
such a passion as men are all too prone to 
feel toward the dead forms that come down 
to them out of a past that was once alivel 

It was an epochal hour for the world 
when the light of the Spirit broke through 
these scales and the dynamic of truth hurled 
them to the ground; and the mighty Paul 
could look above dead creeds, forms, ordi- 
nances, and ceremonies, to Him with whom 
"to obey is better than sacrifice, and to 
hearken than the fat of rams." The message 
of this vision he gave to the world, and the 
Church must rediscover its meaning. He 



96 Shorten the Line. 

said of circumcision, the most cherished 
ceremonial of Israel, "It profiteth nothing/' 
"The kingdom of God is not eating and 
drinking, but righteousness and peace and 
joy in the Holy Ghost." Even the sacred 
writings are not to be slavishly followed in 
the letter; "for the letter killeth, but the 
spirit giveth life." 

Under such a ministry as we have de- 
scribed, a Church can be developed that is 
not bound by "the letter," but is free in 
the Spirit. Welcoming truth of every kind, 
but discerning clearly what is external and 
nonessential, and what is vital and enduring, 
such a Church will be more intelligently 
religious and more religiously intelligent. 

The Christian will not look for a god to 
defend and vindicate, in every name and 
incident, every poem, parable, legend, and 
fable in the Bible ; but will look through the 
burning heart-experiences of the living men 
of the Bible, to a Father to be trusted, 
adored, and loved! He will not fear to lift 
a stone or gaze at a star, lest some cherished 



The Church of To-Morrow. 97 

tradition should be endangered ; but, having 
God in his heart and life, will be able to see 
him in all his works. "The pure in heart 
shall see God." A thousand problems con- 
cerning the historic Christ may remain for 
him unsolved; but the conscious experience 
of the essential indwelling Christ will suffice 
for all his needs. He will not think of God as 
residing exclusively in an organization, or 
imparting his grace only through a creed, or 
sacrament; but will know that "God is a 
Spirit/ ' and "seeketh such to worship him" 
as worship "in spirit and in truth." 

Such experience will impel one to the 
keeping of the Great Commandments. He 
will love God with all his heart and soul and 
mind and strength, and his neighbor as 
himself. This will not be the mere impulse 
of a passing emotion; but the constant 
principle of an abiding spiritual life. These 
convictions and principles within will as 
naturally express themselves in the life, as 
the "root and fatness of the vine" are bodied 
forth in branch and fruit. The Christian 
7 



98 Shorten the Line. 

will not be content with saying, "Lord, 
Lord!" but will "do the will of the Father 
who is in heaven." And what is that will? 
It would be hard to improve upon Micah's 
answer: "He hath showed thee, O man, 
what is good; and what doth Jehovah re- 
quire of thee, but to do justly, and to love 
kindness, and to walk humbly with thy 
God?" 

It avails nothing to be religious if we are 
not just. Honesty, integrity, fair dealing, 
just judgment — these are the basic elements 
in righteousness. They must be exercised 
toward all with whom we have any relations. 
In the home, in business, in society, in 
politics — toward employers and employees, 
dealers and customers, creditors and debtors, 
friends and enemies, neighbors and strangers 
— the Christian must be a just man. The 
principle is a part of his character, and in 
that character he must act in all things. 
And this can only make him a moralist or 
legalist. The Spirit of the Master will carry 
him much farther. He will show kindness, 



The Church of To-Morrow. 99 

and not only show kindness, but love kind- 
ness! Going beyond the claims of justice, 
he will, under the constraint of the Christ 
Spirit, be merciful, gentle, compassionate, 
and full of pity toward all who are unfortu- 
nate. The smug hypocrisy that says to a 
fellow man in need, " Go in peace, be warmed 
and filled/ ' but fails to "give the things 
needful for the body," is as far from the 
spirit of Jesus as midnight from the noonday. 
"As oft as ye did it not to the least of these, 
ye did it not to me." 

Living thus in justice and kindness toward 
men, he will "walk humbly with his God." 
The proud and arrogant spirit is of the evil 
one. To the "poor in spirit" belongs the 
"kingdom of heaven." But a mere passive 
humility will not answer. Prayer being the 
"test and key" of the Christian's relation 
with God, he will be a man of prayer. The 
spirit of humility will drive him to his knees 
in supplication and praise! And more: its 
most characteristic expression is found in 
active obedience; in keeping His command- 



100 Shorten the Line. 

ments, and doing the things that are " pleas- 
ing in His sight." 

This involves such a fully surrendered life 
as makes one not his own, but a steward of 
God, and carries him into the thick of the 
fight to fulfill the Great Commission— wit- 
ness for Christ to the last man of earth, and 
enthrone God in all the institutions of human 
society. 

Being such a Christian is a "man's job," 
and only manly men can perform it. Strange 
as it may seem, such surrender is not a weak- 
ening self-abnegation, but a strengthening 
assertion of self. God said to Ezekiel, 
"Stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with 
thee!" The cringing soul may catch the 
echo of the divine speech uttered centuries 
ago ; but only the up-standing Christian can 
hear the living voice of the God of the fateful 
present. This just, kind, humble, earnest, 
active, courageous disciple of Jesus Christ 
can command the respect and lead the 
movements of men. A Church of such men 



The Church of To- Morrow. 101 

and women can so "lift up" Christ that 
he will "draw all men unto him. ,, 

Doctrines, rites, opinions, and forms of 
activity may continue to differ; but the dif- 
ferences will be superficial and engender no 
strife. Under varying forms of organization, 
creedal statement, and ritual service, the 
"selfsame Spirit' ' will govern all; the same 
fundamentals will constitute the faith of 
all; the same message will be published by 
all ; and the same great objectives will engage 
the prayers and labors of all. 

Such a Church, consciously strong in a 
vital experience of personal salvation, min- 
istering to the whole man, and intelligently 
attending to the building of character, will 
turn the currents of the world into the chan- 
nel of faith and enthrone the Christ over the 
kingdoms of earth. In doing this, it must 
neither be "conformed to the world" nor 
aloof from it. Love to God will forbid the 
one, and love to man will prevent the other. 

Too wise to dissipate its strength in at- 
tempting to defend the long frontier of 



102 Shorten the Line. 

speculative opinion and creedal formula, too 
busy to waste time upon mere externals, the 
Church of the Better Day will know God 
for itself, will keep up the lines of communi- 
cation with the Throne of Grace, will " build 
its house upon the rock" of certitude; and, 
pressing into the thick of the world's restless 
life, will help the individual into personal 
touch with God, and lift the social order to 
the ethics of Jesus Christ! As the Christian 
Churchman must win and lead the hearts 
of men, so must the Christian Citizen win 
and direct the institutions of mankind. The 
ethical ideals of the "Son of Man" can gov- 
ern the social order — and they will. 

Then, and not until then, will God, who 
answers prayer, have fully answered the 
divinest of all the prayers of his people: 
"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on 
earth as it is in heaven !" 



CHAPTER XI. 
Epilogue. 

THE successful minister of to-day is care- 
ful of his personal appearance and 
habits, dresses with neatness and taste, and 
behaves with the dignity and courtesy of a 
well-bred gentleman. The successful Church 
has a modern building, attractive in out- 
ward appearance; comfortably and beauti- 
fully furnished and pleasingly adorned, 
within. The congregation is intelligent, 
orderly, and dignified ; and the services well- 
ordered and decent. These characteristics 
of the modern ministry and Church have 
given to organized Christianity a very dif- 
ferent type from that which prevailed in 
earlier days, but have not taken the spirit 
out of religion, nor drawn either Church or 
minister away from the common people or 
from God. Even the heavy- toned organ, 
the trained choir, and the stately ritual, 
rightly used, are helps and not hindrances 
to devotion. And all these things make 

(103) 



104 Shorten the Line. 

divine worship immeasurably more inviting 
and inspiring to people of character and 
good breeding, simply because, in these out- 
ward things, the ministry and Church keep 
pace with the advancing life of the age. 

Again, in all the business matters of the 
Church, modern methods are being adopted. 
Funds cannot be raised and administered; 
great enterprises cannot be projected and 
carried forward; the great fields of religious 
activity cannot be surveyed, occupied, and 
cultivated successfully, by antiquated meth- 
ods. Organized Christianity is not only a 
spiritual force; it is also a militant army, a 
functioning government, and a going con- 
cern in the world. Therefore it seeks effi- 
ciency by methods that are thoroughly up- 
right, and at the same time thoroughly up- 
to-date. For this reason the Church enjoys 
that credit and esteem among virile men of 
affairs without which it could have but little 
influence. 

Now, shall we go forward in these mere 
externals, and leave our thinking and the- 



Epilogue. 105 

ology in a state befitting the brush arbor, 
the split-log bench, the tallow candle, and 
the lusty camp-meeting song? Do we want 
our Churches to be "like unto whited sepul- 
chers, which outwardly appear beautiful, but 
inwardly are full of dead men's bones? 11 

If we do not, we must insist upon a re- 
spectable theology: that is, a theology that 
men of sense and culture can respect. The 
thought of the Church must keep pace with 
the advancing thought of the age. Teachers 
of religion must meet problems as fearlessly, 
investigate them as thoroughly, accept re- 
sults as honestly, and announce conclusions 
as candidly, as teachers and investigators 
in any other field of knowledge. And, if 
they would command the respect of the best 
minds, they must think and let think. Heresy 
cannot be beaten down and silenced by 
authority; but must be driven from the 
field by truth established upon evidence, ad- 
dressed to reason. 

Whatever is certified by experience, may 
be held as known — by him who has the ex- 



106 Shorten the Line. 

perience. Whatever rests upon evidence 
that is short of absolute certainty is subject 
to modification in the light of new evidence. 
And new evidence ought to be candidly ex- 
amined, and if found convincing should be 
accepted. Above all, let an antagonist and 
his arguments be treated with fairness. To 
fight for victory rather than truth is intel- 
lectual dishonesty. 

Our contention, then, is not for a doc- 
trine or theory; but for an attitude. Cer- 
tainty in all the vital facts of experience; 
conviction respecting what is supported by 
satisfactory evidence; a judicial posture 
toward what is uncertain; and intellectual 
hospitality toward whatever offers light 
upon any theme — these constitute the atti- 
tude of the thinking Christian. Such an 
attitude will insure a growing theology — 
growing because it is alive — and will create 
a thought-life among Christians that will be 
as virile, progressive, influential, and com- 
manding as their outward, organized ac- 
tivities. 



Epilogue. 107 

Men can be as spiritual with such a 
theology as with one more narrow, dog- 
matic, and intense. Plain people of common 
sense will honor it fully as much, and men of 
education will respect it infinitely more. 



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